reesek

the amazon spiegelau glasses are the same as glasses you'd buy in a store. poor handling should in no way be blamed on the glasses. but i'm hoping that everyone who had a bad experience with amazon emails them with the problems - whether it's over-charging on shipping or broken product...it's in everyone's best interest and trust me - this is one place where it pays to be a squeaky wheel.

expectations have definitely changed in this country. consumers are demanding status symbols - which explains "cheap" luxury cars, no money down mortgages and bluefly.com. when i was a kid - a honda cost what some mercedes now cost. the fact that more high end restaurants are opening and charging more money is a given in this cache driven environment. chefs/restaurants are hot so people want in. doesn't this all remind anyone else a little of the 80's? remember "greed is good"?

we usually watch it at 9 (we're on the west coast so it's available at 6) but it seems wrong to watch it before dark, so i always force SO to wait. but sunday, since it was the finale, i crumbled. i've learned though...no eating while watching i think those meatballs(though i have no doubt were delicious given your blog ) would have put me over the edge. i have enough trouble watching tony eat 6 portions of food per episode. especially when he's watching TV hunched over, holding the full ice-cream bowl over his belly. but then, i'm a delicate flower

or we could just commandeer this thread the alki cafe has delicious huevos rancheros. actually everything i've had there has been good - and the portions are absurdly huge. it's the kind of place we always take a walk after eating at...fortunately - we're on the beach so it's a nice walk. there's a little mexican restaurant in the town where snoqualmie falls is (tiny, one street - right next to the train tracks) they make a great huevos rancheros too - though the eggs were a tiny bit undercooked and there was way too much cheese. the beans were great, the tortillas hot, corn and plentiful. a cold coke and i was set.

the lemon ice cream is my favorite too. their raspberry sorbet is also incredible. i'm bummed though - they used to have a truffle that was so good. it was big...too big for their boxes - i can't remember the name - but it was something regal. it definitely had gianduja in it and i think there was gold leaf on top. anyway - they stopped making them because they didn't fit into the sampler boxes.

sunday night. post sopranos and bottle of wine planned for dinner: sugar snap peas (from garden!) blanched for 30 secs. tossed w/olive oil & a squeeze of oj. golden beets that i roasted earlier in the day, sliced and left to marinate with raspberry vinegar, fruity greek olive oil, shallot, tarragon & dill. topped with goat cheese seared scallops topped on the plate in drunken (and surprising delicious) inspiration - drizzled very slightly with truffle honey. outstanding with the beets. i should drink more often.

you don't here that around here, do you? i haven't seen much of that type of thing on egullet. everyone seems to pretty much accept others' dining habits, as all dining is good dining. hmmm...not totally true given the sheer number of threads devoted to guilty/non-foodie enough threads..."my secret affair with margarine", "everything you ever wanted to know about mango salsa but were afraid to ask" etc...and the apologetic tone most of these threads take. edited for clarity

a top hat! my grandmother used to make that for me....eerily - with branola - since it's what my mom always used to buy. i can say with confidence that it was the only thing my grandmother didn't boil. the crisp little "top" dipped into the egg was my favorite part. it's hard to beat the delight of two barely over medium, lacey around the edges eggs with toast. preferably rye, well toasted and thickly buttered with salted butter (or with a sprinkle of salt). you have that first bite of toast as the eggs are just finishing and again marvel at how delicious toast is. if i'm out - the eggs will also require hash browns, crisp. at home - the simple egg on toast is great. edited to add - i wouldn't kick a plate of huevos rancheros out of bed...especially when hungover. only with corn tortillas though.

where does one get green tomatoes? i've got plants, so my garden is the obvious answer...but what variety works best? does it matter? to what stage of maturity do they need to get before they're right to pick/fry?

but very helpful nonetheless. i'd never have known about buttermilk.

damn that looks good. all of it - but i feel like i can taste the lump crab...i miss the sweetness of lump out here in the PNW. dungeness is good, but it's no lump. for me, it was maryland blue crab.... . did you fry them in clarified butter? the crust is so golden... i poked around recipe gullet for varmint's famous okra croutons and those luscious FGT...would you mind posting? thanks! reese

i totally agree. indulgence is in the wallet of the spender.

i do love a good knish. aiden, the site swisskasse linked to is wonderful - in particular "knishes1" which uses schmaltz instead of oleo and makes 8 hearty ones...i hope you have a hobart!

mags - you took the words right out of my mouth (except i'd substitute cornish hen for brisket) brooks - congratulations on your treasure - you told the story beautifully.

glad i got street parking when i was there...

i like the space at lark. it's small which i can see having been limiting - but they did a great job. i also think it fits what they're doing...i love that we have options for high-end fine dining, but if lark were at canlis - it just wouldn't be lark. i imagine one of the reasons sundstrom can offer such a variety of dishes for what i think are reasonable prices is that his rent is much less expensive than a downtown (or superb architectural) space would have been. i think that lark's location (and parking lot! how quaint!) add to its charm. seattle needs to develop it's neighborhoods a little better (bleed it's independent retail and restaurants off of ballard ave, broadway, the ave, etc) and integrate into the neighborhoods. i hope lark sets a trend that other new talents follow. edited for clarity

Lala, september is (potentially) a gorgeous time to visit the east coast. it's crisp - and if you luck into a "real" fall, the stained glass canopies of trees are dazzling. chicago - again - with luck is also a wonderful spot for fall. I'm not sure where you're from - but I miss fall in DC living in the west. however - if you're driving there (vs flying there and then driving) then i second the SF suggestion - there are some very cool stopping points along the way from here. edit: grammar

thanks anna - small shavings - so like hamster/rodent cage lining? sorry for the very un-appetizing description - but it's kind of universal. i'll see if i can find apple wood. edited to add - moist is great - dry is bad, but soggy is not what i was after. maybe it was the fish - i got it at the public market on the water but if it had been frozen...it might make a difference.

Anna, that's really helpful. i bet i'm suffering from both of those problems - too much wood and in bits that are too fine. i'll try bigger pieces and see if that helps. can anyone help me understand why it would be so (overly) wet? i'm also wondering about hot smoking and infusing sweetness - what's the best way? i found that marinating the salmon helped a bit, but there was no real permeation of sweetness into the salmon. i'm not going for a sugary crust - just an accentuation of the natural sweetness of the fish. will using better/bigger wood lend a mellower, sweeter flavor? thanks! rk

mamster - thanks for the clarification on address...i would have gone to 12th and pine. i think the article in the times (if it can be trusted) said the breads were supposed to be from macrina. it also mentioned a vegetable sandwich - eggplant? or did i make that up?

what kind of wood do you use? is it shaved, or chipped? i have a stovetop smoker and have yet to achieve satisfactory results. i tried to smoke a half salmon that i had let marinate for an hour or so in brown sugar, fresh dill, lemon zest and salt. i think i wiped the brine off before smoking, but i'm not positive the chips i used came with my smoker (bad idea? do chips get "stale"?) i then bought more chips - alder i think (very big here) would hickory from the grocery meant for grilling work? are those too big? i ended up with a product that was way too wet - i dried it in a low oven for an hour which helped, but also kind of acrid - did i oversmoke? i think i smoked the half salmon (a small one - maybe 4lb for the half) for about 20 minutes. it was cooked through, but not overly - and after an hour in the oven was edible, but not very tasty...still a little bitter. what did i do wrong?

what a wonderful start. thanks so much to all for your advice. i will check out that site directly. assuming we go the catambria-asturias route are there any must-stop-and-eat sites? the photos i've seen of that region are amazing - and we're not so much into festivals. when we lived in sevilla, we actually left town for semana santa and went camping with our decidedly un-catholic friends from cadiz. i'm sure my parents would have been thrilled if they'd ever had any clue. edited to say that i've looked at top rural and vserna - you are my hero. this is exactly what we want. i can just see us now, walking on the beach with litronas. (i never said we were classy)

hello spain and portugal i need some help. i am spending a week in spain in late july. i studied in sevilla for a year in college, and traveled the south with friends. i've also been to salamanca, madrid and barcelona, but have yet to explore the north. i know that having only a week is a handicap as the regions are fairly large and seem to be not that directly accessible to one another - at least by train. i'm wondering if anyone can give some advice on where we should spend the bulk of our time - we'd thought we might take advantage of a rail/car pass offered through the spanish rail system and try to see 2 or 3 main spots. asturias seemed dramatic in the few photos i've seen and we've always wanted to go to santiago...san sebastian too...but i'm sensing that unless we spend all our time traveling - we should pare down the sites. food and wine are critically important to me - less so to my friend. i've been a vegetarian for years, but i will certainly eat salchichon and jamon serrano - i've always said that spaniards consider ham to be a fruit - and we want to immerse ourselves. are there regional specialties that are not to be missed? festivals at that time of year we should not miss/should avoid? we both speak castellano (she's a spanish teacher, so she's better than i am) but i'm confident i'll pick it back up. do northerners speak castellano in addition to regional languages like they do in barcelona? what can we expect from locals? in sevilla everyone was very nice - in barcelona i thought they were a little cooler. are there pensiones all over the north? we both love seafood and the ocean - can we drive or take a train or bus along the coast anywhere? lots of questions - i know...any advice you can offer would be most appreciated.

i had frites on friday. i was pleased - the sauce sampler is definitely the way to go, though i hope they boost the intensity of the flavors in the mayo-based sauces. aside from the rosemary, the other mayo sauces were not intense enough for me. i loved the bbq sauce, though i'm certain it's bulls-eye (which is my favorite, so i was pleased - but i'd be shocked to find it was homemade). the curry ketchup was devoid of curry flavor. i think they need a genuinely spicy one - a sriracha ketchup or a chipotle mayo that's got a kick. it's a great spot though - laurie and matthew - thanks for the tip!

how about spanish gazpacho? it varies by region...i once had a spectacular trio of gezpachos in granada...or was it cordoba? anyway - one of them was the traditional cordobes "white" gazpacho made with blanched almonds, garlic, bread and peeled grapes. i don't have a recipe, but i bet someone in the EU forum would. i found a great website (in spanish though) gazpacho web i'd be happy to translate any if you're interested - but it's very cool - loads of variations. good luck! edited to note that the link for english version doesn't include actual english version, but does reflect the opinion of every spaniard i encountered.